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(No Model.) I I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. I W. A. HOUTS 8?; L. G. NILSON.TELEPHONE SWITCH BOX- No. 574,245.. Patented Dem-29, 1896.

N6 Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. A. HOUTS &; L. G. .NILSON. I

TELEPHONE SWITCH BOX.

No. 574,245. Patented Dec. 29, 1896.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS.

m: NURMS PETERS co, PNOTO-LITNO.WASHVNGTON p c.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVALLAOE A. IIOUTS, OF PARKER, SOUTH DAKOTA, AND LARS G. NILSON,

OF SIOUX CITY, IOWA, ASSIGNORS TO THE HOUTS AUTOMATIC TELE- PHONESIVITCH'COMPANY, OF PARKER, SOUTH DAKOTA.

TELEPHONE SWITCH-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 574,245, dated December29, 1896.

Application filed A gust 25, 1896. Serial No. 603,830. (No model.) d

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WALLACE A. IIOUTS, of Parker, in the county ofTurner and State of South Dakota, and LARS G. NILSON, of Sioux City, inthe county of Woodbury and State of Iowa, have invented a new andImproved Telephone Switch-Box, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description.

This invention relates to switch-boxes for telephone systems; and theobject is to provide a mechanism whereby upon hanging up the receiverthe parts will be automatically returned to a normal position or to aposition in which the call of the particular box will be automaticallyplaced in circuit, and, further, to so construct the parts that anynumber of stations, all connected by wire with a central station, may beconnected to any one of the others automatically.

Wewill' describe a switch-box embodying our invention, and then pointout the novel features in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a telephone mechanism embodying ourinvention. Fig. 2 is'a side view thereof. Fig. 3 is a sectional view ofthe calling device. Fig. 4 is afront elevation thereof with certainparts omitted.

Fig. 5 is a partial section and partial elevation of a stop-pinemployed,'and Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates a transmitter of any desiredconstruction and having a forked lever 2 extended outward from it anddesigned to make'and break con- "nections in the usual manner and alsoto sup- .port a-receiver 3, which, when hung upon said stud 5 outsidethe escapement-wheel 6 is a sleeve 7, carrying a bracket 8, to which ispivoted an operating-lever 9, one end of which has an inwardly-extendedlug 10, adapted to engage in a notch 11, formed in the periphery orflange 12 of the casing 4.

Mounted to rotate on the sleeve 7 is a toothed wheel 13. Surrounding thehub portion of this toothed wheel 13 is a spring 14, one end of which isengaged with a pin on the escapement-wheel 6, the other end beingengaged with the hub of said wheel 13, and arranged in a barrel on theouter side of the wheel 13 is a spring 15, one end of which is engagedwith the wheel 13 and the other end engages with the sleeve 7. Extendedoutward from the wheel 13 is a lug 16, adapted to be engaged at acertain time with the inwardly-extended portion 17 of the bracket 8, andon the inner side of said wheel 13, near its periphery, is a pin 18,desi ned at a certain time to engage with a pin 19, extended outwardfrom the escapement-Wheel 6.

Mounted to a swing on a block 20, having an electrical connection withthe casing 4, is a circuit-closer 21. This circuit-closer 21 is held inengagement with the escapementwheel 6 by gravity and during the rotationof said escapement-wheel, as will be hereinafter described. The saidcircuit-closer 21 is designed to alternately make and break connectionswith a contact-finger 22, extended from a block 23 of insulatingmaterial secured to the inner side of the casing 4, and from thiscontact-finger22 a line-wire extends,the other line-wire havingconnection with the contactpoint 24. designed to be engaged by a switch25, pivoted on the casing 4.

A stop-lever 26 is pivoted between cheekpieces extended from the rearwall of the casing 4, and this lever has a dog portion oroutwardly-extended portion adapted to engage between the teeth of theescapement wheel and hold the same from rotary motion. The said lever,however, is held normally out of engagement with said escapement-wheelby means of a spring 27, engaging with the end of said lever 26, thatpasses through a transgogotary motion.

verse opening in the stud The portion of the lever 26 within the stud isengaged by a longitudinally-movable pin 28, which extends outwardthrough the stud 5 and is en- 5 gaged by the inner side of the lever 9.

Reciprocating pallets 29 30 are mounted to slide in guideways 31,extended from a casting secured to the inside of the casing 4. Thesepallets 29 and 30 are designed to engage alternately with the teeth ofthe escapement-wheel, and to control their movements we employ abalance-wheel 32, pivoted on a stud extended from the casting on whichthe guide 31 is mounted, and the inner ends of I 5 the pallets 29 andare respectively pivoted to said balance-wheel near its hub. It will beseen that these pallets are so located with relation to the teeth of theeseapement-wheel that they are alternately moved by the teeth :0 of saidwheel, which will impart an oscillatory movement to the balance-wheel,and this movement will retard the runnin g movement of theescapement-wheel.

e will now describe a means for locking 2 5 the toothed wheel 13 and themeans for automatically releasing the same. Movable in a sleeve 33,extended inward from a side wall of the box, is a pin 34. This pin ismovable radially with relation to the wheel 13, and is 0 adapted toengage its inner end between the teeth of said wheel. The pin 34 isnormally held outward by means of a spring 35, abutting at one endagainst the sleeve 33 and abutting at the other end against a shoulder 35 formed on the pin 34. Extended radially from the pin 34, and adaptedto move in a bayonetslot 36, formed through the sleeve 33 is a lug 37. Afinger 38 extends laterally from the outer end of the pin 34, and thisfinger 38 engages in a slot formed in a push-bar 39, ex-

tended through a suitable guide mounted on the base of the telephone andpivotally connected at its upper end with the lever 2. Obviously bypushing the pin 34 inward to en- 5 gage its inner end between the teethof the sufficiently to disengage its lug 37, and then the spring 35 willmove said pin outward and out of engagement with the wheel 13.

Secured to the outer side of the wheel 13 is a disk 40, provided aroundits edge with a series of numbers designating in sequence the severaltelephone-numbers in a circuit comprising this particular telephone.

The operation of the device is as follows: By pressing downward thefinger end of the lever 9 its lug 10 will be disengaged from the notch11, and this rocking movement of the lever 9 will rock the lever 26 toengage it with the escapement-wheel. Then by turning the lever 9 thewheel 13 and the disk 40 will at the same time be rotated, and when thedesired telephone call-number on said disk 40 shall have reached thepoint opposite the pin 34 the said pin is to be pushed inward to lockthe wheel 13, as before described, and then the rotation of the lever 9is continued until its lug 10 reaches the notch 11, and then the saidlever must be released and allow its lug to engage in said notch. Assoon as this occurs, the pressure on the lever 26 having been removed,the spring 27 will move said lever out of engagement with the teeth ofthe wheel 6, and then under the influence of the spring 14 theescapement-wheel (i will be rotated a distance corresponding to thedistance through which the wheel 13 was rotated, and during this rotarymovement of the escapementwheel the proper number of its teeth willsuecessively move the swinging contact 20 into engagement with thecontact-finger 21, thus making and breaking the electrical connections aproper number of times to make a call. After finishing the conversationthrough the telephone the receiver must be returned to the lever 2, andthe weight of this receiver drawing down the lever 2 will move the rod39 to release the pin 34 from the wheel 13, as before described, andthen the spring 15 will turn the wheel with the disk 40 backward to theoriginal position and with the particular call-number of this telephone,say 45, opposite the pin 34. During this backward movement of the wheell3 the lug 18 on its inner side will engage with the lug 19 on the outerside of the wheel 6, and thus carry said wheel 6 to its normal position,

Having thus described onr invent-ion, we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent- 1. An automatic call for telephones,comprisinga easing, an escapement-Wheel moun ted therein and adapted tomake and break an electric circuit, a locking device for saidescapement-wheel, a second wheel mounted to rotate relatively to thefirst'named Wheel and carrying a disk having telephone callrnumbersthereon, a spring connection between said wheels, a locking device forsaid last named wheel, and means for automatically releasing saidlocking device through the weight of the telephone-receiver,substantially as specified.

2. An automatic call for telephones, comprising a casing, an escapement-wheel mounted to rotate therein, electrical contacts adapted to beclosed by said escapement-wheel and transmit electrical impulses, asecond wheel mounted in the casing and adapted to rotate relatively tothe first-named or escapement wheel, a spring having one end engagedwith the escapement-wheel and the other end engaged with thesecondrnamed wheel, a numbered disk on said second wheel, aradiallymovable pin for engaging between teeth of said second-namedwheel, a locking device for said pin, a spring for moving said pinoutward, and a push-bar having connection with the lever supporting areceiver and engaging with a part extended laterally from said pin,substantially as specified.

3. An automatic call for telephones, comprising a casing, a tubular studin said casing, an escapement-wheel, means for retarding the movement ofsaid escapement-wheel, a locking-lever for said escapement-wheel, atoothed wheel also mounted on the stud in the casing, a springconnection between said two Wheels, apin on one of the wheels adapted toengage with a pin on the other wheel, a sleeve mounted to rotate on thestud, asprin g connection with said sleeve and the toothed wheel, abracket carried by said sleeve, a lever fulcrumed to said bracket andadapted to engage one of its ends in a notch in the-periphery of thecasing, a rod extended through the tubular stud, for operating the lockof the escapemeut-Wheel, a pin adapted for locking engagement with thetoothed wheehand aconnection with the receiver-hanging lever forreleasing said pin, substantially as specified.

4. An automatic call for telephones, comprising a casing, circuit makingand breaking devices substantially as described arranged therein andcomprising a toothed wheel, a sleeve supported by the casing andextended radially of said wheel, a pin movable in said sleeve and havinga lug extended througha bayonet-slot in said sleeve, a spring for normally holding said pin outward, a finger extending laterally from theouter end of said pin, and a push-bar extended through a bearing in thetelephone-casing or base-board, the said rod being pivoted at its upperend to the lever for supporting a receiver and having a lost-motionengagement at its lower end with said laterally-extended finger,substantially as specified.

WALLACE A. HOUTS. LABS G. NILSON. \Vitnesses to the signature of WallaceA. Houts:

A. H. HAMMARSTROM, W. R. WOOD. Witnesses to the signature of LarsG.'Ni1' son:

A. M. VANDERBURG, G. A. SELGREN.

